Embodying Hebrew Culture: Aesthetics, Athletics, and Dance in the Jewish Community of Mandate Palestine

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ISRAELI STUDIES | PERFORMANCE STUDIES “ByfocusingonthreeofthemajorculturalinnovationsofearlyZionism—beautycontests, sports,anddance—NinaS.Spiegelprovidesaclear,concise,andcomprehensiveguide to that fascinating period of ferment and ingenuity: the attempt to rejuvenate Jewish culture according to the tenets of European nationalism and resurrect it anew in the Land of Israel in the first half of the twentieth century.” YARON PELEG, Kennedy-Leigh Lecturer in Modern Hebrew Studies, University of Cambridge “ThisisabookthatIhavewantedtoreadforalongtime.NinaSpiegeldemonstrateshow British-Mandate Palestine constructed a public culture premised on corporeality and hownewformsoffolkdance,theatricaldance,sport,andfestivalembodiedthetensions and debates of an emerging nation—one poised between past and present, East and West, sorrow and celebration. Embodying Hebrew Culture enriches and amplifies our understanding of performance and politics in twentieth-century culture.” SUSAN MANNING, Northwestern University “Throughtheprismofbeauty,dance,andthefirstMaccabiah,coreideologicalstruggles arerevealedfortheemergentculturalthemesinMandatoryPalestineandcontinuingin Israeli society. Anchored in interdisciplinary perspectives, Dr. Spiegel weaves together an original, fascinating, and insightful story of the social and cultural life of the Yishuv.” CALVIN GOLDSCHEIDER, professor emeritus of sociology and Ungerleider Professor Emeritus of Judaic Studies, Brown University WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS DETROIT, MICHIGAN 48201-1309 ...